Prostate Cancer Foundation: FATHER'S DAY

Credits & Description:

Type of entry: Branded Entertainment
Category: Fiction: TV & Broadcast
Advertiser: PROSTATE CANCER UK
Product/Service: PROSTATE CANCER UK
Agency: COAST London, UNITED KINGDOM

Client: PROSTATE CANCER UK
Product: PROSTATE CANCER UK
Entrant: COAST London, UNITED KINGDOM
Type of Entry: Branded Entertainment
Category: Fiction: TV & Broadcast
Entrant Company : COAST London, UNITED KINGDOM
Contributing Company : COAST London, UNITED KINGDOM
Media Agency : MANNING GOTTLIEB OMD London, UNITED KINGDOM

Writer: Martin Sadofski (COAST)
Executive Producer: Charlie Druce (COAST)
Director: Cilla Ware (C/O COAST)
Communications Director: Seamus O'farrell (PROSTATE CANCER UK)
Composer: Samuel Sim (C/O COAST)
Executive Producer: Neil Stuke (C/O COAST)

Describe the campaign/entry:
Brand film content – for so long promising much but delivering little of any note – is finally finding its feet. There’s a range of drivers that are leading the charge.

Most obvious are the spectacular advances in both communications and screen technologies. Now we seamlessly slip between one ‘my media’ screen devise and another.

And content marketing at last provides a common understanding of the editorial nature of online, and the potential role of brand content within it. Content marketing means entertaining, informative and rewarding are the key means to drive brand engagement and sales. A good film story, well told.

Entertainment is at a premium right now. Yes, we’re watching more film online, but crucially, of a higher quality too. Think iPlayer and Netflix. Naturally, brands are following. Think Lego or Redbull. Media models around ownership and distribution are being turned on their heads. Brands are re-organising their media priorities from ‘paid for’ towards ‘owned’ and ‘earned’. And current use of a term like content curator is a mark of how far we have come.

Entertaining brand film content – factual or drama – is at last emerging as a powerful conveyor of propositions, values and initiatives.

Results:
High impact / high quality brand drama.

The aim of the UK wide Prostate Cancer UK’s ‘Father’s Day’ campaign was to increase Prostate Cancer awareness and get ‘ordinary’ men talking about it.

The challenge was to get this difficult message to as large an audience as possible in a hard-hitting, entertaining way.

The campaign focused on exciting the public about the apparent release of a new British ‘heist’ drama, featuring an all star cast, including Ray Winstone, Charles Dance, John Simm, Tamsin Outhwaite and Neil Stuke.

Keeping the Prostate Cancer story under wraps, a carefully co-ordinated PR initiative involving the national press, television and radio news was launched. 3 x short movie trailers were produced for phased release on ITV and online, prior to the film’s main transmission on ITV4 (Father’s Day 2013).

Throughout the teaser campaign, and the first half of the main film narrative, the implication was that ‘Father’s Day’ was going to be another Long Good Friday: the gang is getting back together. One of them has recently died. And another wants out. Tension builds for the big reunion. When they eventually meet, it turns out they are not planning ‘a job’. It’s Prostate Cancer they all have in common, and the meeting we witness is their support group.

The drama’s emotional narrative culminates with their support group meeting. Here the characters share their cancer experiences and their treatment. Each is at a different stage of the illness and each of their stories reveals a different aspect of the disease. Through the drama, we learn about symptoms, what it’s like living with the disease, and its impact on sufferers and their families.

The take out message is that men need to start thinking about prostate cancer and, most importantly, start talking about it.


In the week prior to the main ITV4 broadcast (Father’s Day 2013), trailers played out across ITV editorial slots, promoting what purported to be a major new drama. National journalists were asked to play along, and seeded the idea of a new prime-time heist thriller.

Conventional TV spots and poster press ads were supported by ITV and Prostate Cancer UK’s online assets. Finally, in the days ahead of the main transmission, prominent cast members posted tweets and appeared on ITV daytime shows (This Morning & Lorraine) and national news slots to promote the genuine project – a campaign to raise awareness about prostate cancer.


On the night of the ITV4 broadcast (Father’s Day 2013) the film reached an audience of 450,000.

Overall, more than 5 million people engaged through TV & online with the ITV trailer / editorial / news coverage.

The film was well received by viewers and received critical acclaim in the press: “A mini drama series with a twist – and offers a better story line than much of Hollywood”. Richard Brooks (Sunday Times).

For Prostate Cancer UK, it proved a huge success.

General awareness of the charity almost doubled among those who experienced the campaign, increasing from 33% to 64%. Unique visitors across Prostate Cancer UK’s website increased by 260%. Referrals from Facebook were up 1, 417%; and referrals from Twitter were up by 9,019%. The number of donations to Prostate Cancer UK increased by 249%.

Prostate Cancer UK labelled it their ‘best campaign ever’.